Snow and Wind on the way for Tuesday and Wednesday

Morning, its Monday, lets look at the forecast for the next, fast moving storm system slated to impact the state from 12pm Tue to 5am Wed....some snow and wind for much of the central mountains and some rain showers and wind for front-range (Den/Bou).

For the north-central mountains including Routt, Pitkin, Eagle, Summit, Grand, ClearCreek, western Boulder/Larimer counties snow / snow showers expected from about 1pm Tue to 3am Wed. Generally 2-5" for the local ski areas / higher terrain with highest amounts expected west of Vail Pass (Park Range / Steamboat ski, Flat Tops, parts of the Elks between Aspen and CB...those areas could get up to 6-7"). There will be some lighter snow down by Telluride and the western San Juans as well on Tue night.

Strong wind expected across much of the central and northern mountains from 11am-11pm on Tue: westerly wind-gusts of 20-50mph, strongest above 10kft. Strong wind will continue over the Front Rang mountains (along/east of the Cont. Divide) on Wed during the day (20-50mph gusts up high).

For Den/Bou, foothills, Palmer Divide and the front-range urban corridor looks like a round of gusty rain showers from 3pm-9pm Tue. Likely not much actual rain hitting the ground due to the strong westerly downslope flow. Slight chance for a few snow showers over the Palmer Divide on Tue night (little accum).

Nice and warm weather (breezy at times) expected across the state from Wed afternoon through Sat afternoon. Temps climbing back into the 60s for Den/Bou.

Then another weaker storm system will impact the state from Sat night into Sun...right now just looks like some more snow showers for the central mountains

A stronger storm / upper-level low with potentially some snow for the front-range expected by next Mon into Tue (18th/19th)...and that could bring more accumulating snow to all the front-range (Den/Bou) and the adjacent mountains, uncertainty is high. More on that later.

First image loop shows forecast radar over the next 60 hours (5am this morning to 5pm Wed) from latest NAM-3km model. Second and third image compare forecast total snowfall from now through 5am Wed from latest ECMWF and NWS Blend of Models (take with grain of salt). Fourth image shows the wind-gust forecast at 2pm Tue from HRRR (showing some windy conditions).